Reform MP Sarah Pochin condemned for making ‘tartan burqa’ joke at Scottish election launch
A Reform England MP has been criticized for joking about wearing a “plaid burka” as she launched the party’s Scottish election campaign.
Sarah Pochin, who was previously condemned for calling for a burqa ban, made the comment during a speech at a golf club in Renfrewshire on Thursday.
Moments after his car froze, the Runcorn and Helsby MP told the conference: “I really wanted to turn up in a Reformation tartan burka but apparently I wasn’t allowed.
“One day, let’s do one of these events that aren’t livestreamed. We’ll do all the mischief.”
“We’ll do everything that goes wrong, and when we do our part on camera, we’ll do all that action and everything else; it’s hilarious.”
The comments were condemned by other parties, with a Labor spokesman responding: “It took Sarah Pochin less than 30 seconds to start making jokes about Muslims after the motorway broke down.
“The same Sarah Pochin who said seeing so many black and Asian people in TV ads drove her crazy.”
Ms Ponchin was branded a “fool” by the party’s chairman, Zia Yousuf, last year when she used her first question in the PMQ to call on the prime minister to ban burqas “in the interest of public safety”.
He said: “Given the Prime Minister’s desire to strengthen strategic cohesion with our European neighbours, will he follow the lead of France, Belgium, Denmark and others in the interest of public safety and ban the burqa?”
The Reform spokesman later clarified that it was not party policy to ban the burqa, but Mr Yusuf said last month that the party would support a ban on “all public face coverings”, including the burqa, if it came to power.
It comes after the party’s London mayoral candidate was also condemned for saying women wearing burqas in public should be stopped and searched.
Laila Cunningham, who will be Reform’s candidate in the capital elections in 2028, caused a serious reaction after she said the following. Standard He said he would take action to ban the wearing of religious clothing in public places.
“If you are hiding your face, it should be assumed that you are hiding it for a criminal reason,” he said, without offering evidence.
Crossbench colleague Baroness Shaista Gohir criticized the Reform candidate, saying: Guard His comments were “dangerous” and a “dog whistle” for racists.
Baroness Gohir, chief executive of the UK Muslim Women’s Network, told the paper that Ms Cunningham was “sending a message to Muslims that they do not belong” and was “emboldening people who were already mistreating Muslims and influencing people who read this misinformation”.
